A decrease of 5 grams of salt a day (about one teaspoon) was associated with a 23% lower stroke rate and up to 17% less total cardiovascular disease, reported Pasquale Strazzullo, MD, of the “Federico II” University of Naples, Italy, and colleagues online in BMJ.
In this study, the overall lifetime risk among 40-year-olds was 12.3% for men and 4.2% for women.
Life is not fair.
During a mean follow-up of 30 years, 56.5% of the participants died. About a third of the deaths (32.1%) were attributed to cardiac causes. Of those, 40.4% were from sudden arrhythmia.
As in individuals with a J-point elevation of at least 0.1 mV, those with an elevation of greater than 0.2 mV in the inferior leads had an increased risk of death from cardiac causes (RR 2.98, 95% CI 1.85 to 4.92) and from sudden arrhythmia (RR 2.92, 95% CI 1.45 to 5.89).
Nearly half of those with an elevation of more than 0.2 mV (47.2%) died from cardiac causes, compared with 17.2% among those who did not have the early repolarization pattern (P<0.001).
Results: SCD occurred in 8.6% of patients during 3 years of follow-up. During the initial hospitalization for MI, the strongest predictors of SCD were atrial fibrillation (AF) (hazard ratio [HR], 2.0), prior stroke (HR, 2.0), and smoking (HR, 1.5). In the first 30 days after MI, the strongest predictors of SCD were recurrent MI (HR, 3.5), rehospitalization (HR, 2.5), and coronary artery bypass graft surgery (HR, 2.3). The strongest predictors of SCD from 30 days to 6 months after MI were prior transient ischemic attack (HR, 1.8), prior diabetes (HR, 1.7), and new left bundle branch block (HR, 1.7). From 6 months to 3 years after MI, the strongest predictors of SCD were prior MI (HR, 1.7), recurrent MI (HR, 1.7), and AF (HR, 1.6).
Coronary artery calcification was common among apparently healthy adults, became more frequent and severe with time, and was associated with elevated levels of serum phosphorus, according to an analysis of data from a long-term population study.
At baseline, coronary artery calcification was present in 28% of participants in a long-term observational study, and six years later, new-onset calcification had developed in 33%, for an overall prevalence of 50% (P<0.001), according to Katherine R. Tuttle, MD, of Providence Medical Research Center in Spokane, Wash., and colleagues.
NT-proBNP level is a strong independent predictor of AF.
Strong evidence indicates that CRP is associated with CHD events. Moderate, consistent evidence suggests that adding CRP to risk prediction models among initially intermediate-risk persons improves risk stratification. However, sufficient evidence that reducing CRP levels prevents CHD events is lacking.
…it makes intuitive sense that LA enlargement, as a nonspecific marker of high LV diastolic pressure due to any cause, is a marker of adverse prognosis.
The evidence for CRP as a solid risk factor for CHD remains mixed.
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